This patent document relates to mode-locked fiber lasers.
Mode-locked fiber lasers for generating laser pulses can be configured to have simple laser cavity designs, compact packaging, good operation stability and relatively low cost in comparison with solid-state mode-locked lasers systems. Mode-locked fiber lasers, optical fibers, fiber components used in such lasers also provide convenient and reproducible device settings for the study of a variety of nonlinear dynamical processes. Such fiber lasers use doped gain fibers to provide the optical gain for the laser operation. The gain bandwidth of the gain fiber in a fiber laser is generally viewed as a primary factor that limits the bandwidth of the fiber laser.